


hurricane

by soulofme



Series: sheith sentence prompts [24]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Best Friends, Growing Up Together, M/M, Pining Shiro (Voltron), Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 00:29:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15449301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulofme/pseuds/soulofme
Summary: If you were to ask him, Shiro would say Keith Kogane is the kind of guy that comes into your life, sweeps you off your feet, and then flies away to somewhere you can't follow him.And Shiro is inexorably in love with him.





	hurricane

**Author's Note:**

> sentence prompt: are you in love with him?
> 
> Also sorry not sorry that 90% of these are about pining sheith lmao

**i.**

If you were to ask him, Shiro would say Keith Kogane is the kind of guy that comes into your life, sweeps you off your feet, and then flies away to somewhere you can't follow him.

And Shiro is inexorably in love with him.

 

**ii.**

Shiro and Ryou grow up on a quiet little street in a cute little house. Everyone knows everyone, and they have block parties each summer like every suburban cliché he’s ever heard of. White picket fences, apple pie, and God. The three core American values, right up there with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Shiro likes it well enough. He’s more positive than Ryou, who bitched up a storm because he had to leave behind Miranda Horan, the girl he’d kiss behind the bleachers who he swore tasted like cherries. Mom hadn’t cared too much about it, and Ryou swears up and down it’s because they’re thirteen and their opinions don’t matter much. Which, maybe, he’s right about. Not that Shiro will admit that.

Their neighbors are nice. Friendly about everyone.

Everyone but Keith, the kid across the street with a nasty right hook and the attitude to match. Shiro’s never been on the receiving end of one of his punches, but he’s heard the other kids talking about it. _Stay away from Kogane. He’ll knock your lights out_.

Shiro doesn’t doubt it. Not for a second. It’s the fear, he thinks, that keeps him from introducing himself. Even when he sees Keith outside mowing the lawn while his father directs him, or when Shiro’s riding his bike with Ryou and Keith’s sitting on the porch, headphones on and tapping aimlessly at something on his phone.

**iii.**

 

It’s humid as hell today. The air conditioner’s broken and Ryou has called Mom about it at least three times. She’ll look at it when she gets home, so _please, I’m at work._

Shiro’s channel surfing while Ryou lays upside-down on the couch, legs hooked over the back and head inches away from the ground. He shoves his fingers into Shiro’s face then, sticky and smelling suspiciously like the watermelon ice pops from the freezer.

“What?” Shiro asks when Ryou makes it obvious he’s not going anywhere until he’s sufficiently entertained.

“Dare you twenty bucks you won’t go across the street.”

“What?” Shiro says again, twisting to cock an eyebrow at him.

“Dare you twenty bucks,” Ryou corrects, snapping his fingers, “to introduce yourself to Kogane.”

A rock settles in Shiro’s gut. He narrows his eyes and turns back to the television.

“Dare you ten.”

“Ten?” Ryou squawks. “That’s cheap, Takashi.”

“Whatever. Leave me alone.”

“You’re _scared_ ,” Ryou sing-songs, sitting up straight.

“Shut up,” Shiro mutters. Ryou’s not so easily deterred. “If I go, will you stop?”

“For now,” Ryou says.

Good enough. Ryou waves a twenty tauntingly when he steps out onto the porch.

Walking to the Kogane’s house feels suspiciously like a death-march. Shiro shoves the thought away, telling himself that it’s just Ryou’s dumb voice in his head again, and knocks on the door. No one answers for a long moment and Shiro wants to go home, twenty bucks be damned.

But then the door creaks open and Keith’s standing there, rubbing at his eyes like he just woke up even though it’s noon. He crosses his arms when he sees Shiro, leaning against the doorframe.

“What?”

“Hey,” Shiro says. “My name’s Takashi Shirogane. I live across the street.”

“Cool,” Keith says. Doesn’t sound like he means it. Shiro wants to puke suddenly. “Keith.”

He holds out a hand and Shiro stares at it for an embarrassingly long time before he shakes it.

“Nice to meet you,” he forces out.

“You too, Takashi.”

“It’s, uh, Shiro,” he stammers. “My friends call me Shiro.”

Keith gets a funny look on his face. And then…

“Okay. Nice to meet you, _Shiro_.”

**iv.**

 

On the rare day he has off, Keith’s father sets up a sprinkler in their backyard. Keith invites him over, and they take turns running through the water while Ryou sulks in a lawn chair.

“You’re hogging it,” he tells Shiro.

Shiro ignores him and runs through the spray again. Keith’s standing a little bit away, hands on his hips.

“You do everything together?” he asks, jerking his chin towards Ryou.

“No,” Shiro says. Sounds like a lie when he really thinks about it, but he won’t change his answer.

Keith smirks. “Prove it.”

So Shiro does. Goes over to Keith’s alone on another gloriously hot day and plops himself on the stoop like he’s making a point. He is. Not that it matters.

Not when Keith smiles at him, eyes twinkling mischievously.

**v.**

 

“You’re spending a lot of time with Keith,” Mom says conversationally, slicing into a chicken breast with practiced ease. She smiles at him. “Are you having fun?”

And Shiro says, “Yeah, Mom.”

It’s true, after all.

 

**vi.**

 

Keith’s at Shiro’s house now, folding paper airplanes. He launches his fourth one of the afternoon, and Shiro watches with despair as it flies so much farther than his own.

“You’re doing it wrong,” Keith says, reaching over to snatch the paper Shiro has in his hands. “You’ve gotta make it tight.”

He presses his thumb hard against a crease and hands it back. Shiro flicks his wrist and it’s off.

Not as far as Keith. But close enough.

“I wanna go to space,” Keith says then, slouching in his chair and kicking his feet up onto the porch railing.

“Space,” Shiro repeats flatly. “By yourself?”

“No,” Keith laughs. “Maybe with my dad.”

Shiro swallows. Gathers his nerve. Says, “Well, what if _we_ went?”

He doesn’t know why he says it. Doesn’t know why he’s piss-scared to see the expression on Keith’s face. A second passes. A minute then. And Keith…

Keith laughs.

“Sure,” he says, holding out his hand. Pinky out like they’re five years old. “We’ll go together.”

“Okay,” Shiro gets out. Wraps his pinky around Keith’s and wonders if they’ll even remember this in a year. “We will.”

**vii.**

They’re fourteen now.

Shiro experiences jealousy for the first time when Keith drags him out of bed at eight in the morning. There’s a creek, he says, a creek one of my _friends_ showed me.

Shiro repeats that word over. Friend. Another one. Not Shiro.

The thing is, people like Shiro. Like a ridiculous amount, so much that Ryou downright glares when people say _hey, aren’t you Takashi’s brother?_

Right. So, people. There are a lot of them, but Shiro only has a few he considers close friends. He likes to think he’s loyal in that sense. Not that there’s anything wrong with Keith talking to other people. Shiro had just been under the—apparently false—impression that he was the only person Keith invested time in besides his father.

Yes, he’s jealous. No, Shiro’s not gonna say a damn thing about it. He lets Keith lead him to this creek and whatever anger he had melts away. It’s pretty. Picturesque. He likes it a lot.

They take their shoes off and Keith grabs his wrist as he leads them across a trail of rocks. They’re sun warmed and burn the soles of his feet. But Shiro hardly realizes it, especially when his brain supplies him with one horrifically true thought:

He’d follow Keith anywhere.

**viii.**

Two truths, one lie.

Truth one: Keith and Shiro are best friends.

Truth two: Keith are Shiro are going to space. Together.

And one lie: Shiro doesn’t love Keith a metric fuck ton.

**ix.**

Keith’s sitting on a plastic chair, arms crossed over the back of it as Shiro prepares to clip his bangs. He combs through Keith’s hair, staring at the sight of the dark strands sliding through his fingers. Thinks, suddenly and all at once, that he doesn’t want _Keith_ to do the same.

It’s a stupid thought. Shiro murders it and affects a deep, exaggerated voice when he says _just a trim?_

Keith rolls his eyes but he’s grinning. Nods, and Shiro snips, snips, snips. There’s something disgustingly domestic about it. Keith’s hair flutters around them, down to the tarp Shiro has laid out on the floor. Outside, it’s pouring rain. Thunder and lightning. The works.

Inside, a storm rages in Shiro’s chest. A hurricane, when he thinks about it. Like Keith, staring at him with _that_ look in his eye, like he knows what Shiro’s thinking, how badly he wants him.

Shiro hopes for his sake that Keith doesn’t.

**x.**

 

They’re fifteen and Keith’s got a big book filled of everything about space. He points out constellations, explains black holes and the planets to Shiro.

And when he’s done, when his eyes are sparkling and wide, Shiro fights the urge to kiss him.

**xi.**

It’s not himself, or his mother, or even Keith who says, out loud, that Shiro’s in love.

It’s Ryou. He says it when they’re grocery shopping, when Shiro’s torn between Fruit Loops and Frosted Flakes because he’s still secretly a child at heart and Honey Bunches of Oats sounds like a death sentence.

“Are you in love with him?” Ryou asks, like he’s been thinking about it for a while.

Fruit Loops goes crashing to the floor. Frosted Flakes it is. Shiro tosses the box into the cart and stares at Mom, who’s crouching to inspect oatmeal four feet in front of them.

“What the hell?”

“You and Keith,” Ryou adds then, expecting Shiro to suddenly _get it_. “You’re kinda close?”

“We’re best friends.”

“You’re in love with him.”

Shiro stiffens. He thinks Ryou’s fucking with him, until he sees the serious expression on his brother’s face. Ryou’s barely serious. Not like Shiro, who approaches life like he’s afraid it’s going to swallow him whole one day.

“Shut the hell up.”

“I don’t give a shit, Takashi,” Ryou says with conviction. “You know I don’t. You’re my brother.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Shiro says.

Ryou shrugs. “Does Mom know?”

“No,” Shiro says. “No one but me.”

“You,” Ryou echoes. “You should tell him.”

“And do what?” Shiro snaps. “Get rejected? Ruin our friendship? I’ll pass.”

Ryou gives him a flat look.

“He likes you.”

“Stop it, Ryou.”

Ryou does.

**xii.**

Keith’s dad lets him use his motorcycle.

At least, that’s what Keith _tells_ him. Shiro has a hard time believing it, since Keith barely has his permit, but he doesn’t say anything. He crawls on behind Keith and grips his waist hard, sinking his fingers in like he wants them to disappear into the spaces between Keith’s ribs.

It’s midnight and Keith drives them to the middle of nowhere. The desert, where they could die and no one but a coyote will find them.

Keith leans against the bike while Shiro gets off and looks at the small mountain range in the distance.

Keith mumbles, “Dad says my mom used to bring me here when I was a baby.”

His mom, who Shiro knows has been dead for years. His mom, who Keith loves fiercely despite not remembering what she looks like. His mom, who Keith’s dad says is Keith’s twin.

“Keith…” He can’t think of the words. This place means a lot to Keith. And now he’s sharing it.

Keith looks at him, mouth parted like he wants to say something. This _feeling_ wells in Shiro’s gut, like a thousand butterflies fluttering inside him.

He thinks, then, that he might say it. It won’t be easy, but the words will be out there.

_Keith Kogane, I love you. I love you more than a best friend, more than anything in this world._

Shiro opens his mouth, he’s ready to, but Keith beats him to the punch.

“I’m moving.” He pauses. “Maybe you can come here. Remember me or something.”

Shiro’s world comes crashing down.

**xiii.**

Shiro sulks every day. His mother tries to get him to talk but he won’t. Ryou needles him until Shiro snaps, and then they ignore each other for a weak.

It’s a miserable existence. Shiro stays in his room, leaving to shower and eat before heading back. He scrolls through social media. He blasts his music and screams the lyrics. He covers his head with the blankets and tells himself he’s not going to cry.

Keith drops by one day. Sits on the edge of Shiro’s bed and kicks his feet so they thump against the bedframe.

“Shiro,” he says. _Thump, thump_.

“What?”

_Thump, thump._

Keith flops down beside him. They’re side by side. Shiro stares at him and feels Keith touching his jaw. His breath stutters in his chest and Keith’s fingers are gone in an instant.

“Talk to me,” he whispers.

“I don’t want you to go,” Shiro whispers back.

He gets an idea, then. He reaches for his headphones and waits for Keith to sit up before he slips them over his ears.

“What are you doing?” Keith asks.

“I need to tell you something,” Shiro replies. “But I don’t have the guts to. This is the only way I know how.”

Keith doesn’t fight him. Shiro plugs the headphones into his phone and cranks the volume up until he can hear the music blaring. Keith’s eyebrows crinkle. Shiro presses his hand over Keith’s eyes and says,

_“I love you.”_

He unplugs his phone. Keith hands him his headphones. No one says anything.

“Got it off your chest?” Keith mutters after five minutes.

Shiro swallows.

“Yeah.”

**xiv.**

 

Shiro is sixteen.

Keith is gone.

Sometimes he calls, and Shiro closes his eyes and focuses on that raspy voice, listens as he talks about school and summer and whatever else comes to mind. _I miss you_ , he tells Shiro.

 _How much?_ He wants to ask Keith.

But he doesn’t have the guts to. He never has.

After a while, Keith stops calling. Shiro doesn’t know how to reach out to him without spilling his heart.

So he doesn’t.

**xv.**

Shiro meets this guy named Adam. He’s nice, they get along well enough, but they’re not best friends.

He’s not Keith, after all.

He tells Adam about Keith one night, when he’s feeling particularly sorry for himself, and Adam listens. Doesn’t say a damn word, not until Shiro’s scrubbing his face and pretending he doesn’t feel the tears staining his cheeks.

“Do you love him?” Adam asks.

“Yes,” Shiro says. Doesn’t spare a second to think about it.

“Then,” Adam says, smiling at him, “don’t let him go too far.”

**xvi.**

Ryou groans, tossing his feet on Shiro’s pillow. Shiro rolls his eyes and shoves his legs, making the laptop on his brother’s stomach teeter precariously.

“What’s your problem?” Shiro asks.

“What’s _your_ problem?” Ryou fires back. “You have something with space?”

“What?” Shiro grumbles, crawling to his brother’s side.

Ryou points at the screen.

“Why are you going through my history?!” he screeches. He has nothing to hide, really, but his privacy is being _invaded_ , damn it. So, yeah. He has an issue with that.

“Orion, black holes, the Milky Way. Oh, and _this._ Galaxy Garrison. Wait, isn’t that some space school?”

Ryou sits up then.

“Takashi?”

“I’m going to go to space,” Shiro grits out. Thinks of Keith and almost breaks down into sobs.

“Okay,” Ryou mumbles. He shuts the laptop. “Let’s go watch a movie.”

**xvii.**

Shiro is seventeen and a student at the Galaxy Garrison.

Adam’s here too, which is nice. They’re roommates. Friends, too. Not like Shiro and Keith, nothing like that, but close. That’s pretty nice too.

Shiro’s walking down to the gym when Iverson stops him, tells him he wants to talk to him about something. So Shiro follows him to his office and sits across from him.

“Sir?” he prods.

“I never thought I’d say this,” Iverson begins. “But it looks like someone’s been beating your scores.”

Shiro lets the information sink in. He’s surprised, yes, but more than anything he’s curious.

So he asks, “Who is it?”

“Don’t go threatening him,” Iverson says gruffly. Then adds, “Keith Kogane.”

And just like that, Shiro can’t breathe.

**xviii.**

Shiro’s racing through the halls, going so fast that everything blurs around him, but he doesn’t _care_.

He bursts into the cafeteria and stands there for a long minute, just looking. He sees that dark hair, those crossed arms, and moves before he knows what he’s doing.

He slams his hands onto the table. The motion makes Keith’s eyes snap open, makes him pull his earbuds out and fix Shiro with a wide-eyed gaze.

“You never told me,” Shiro says, scrambling to get enough air into his lungs.

“Shiro,” Keith whispers, jaw literally dropping.

He tells him to sit. Shiro does.

 

 

 

 

**xix.**

They talk for a while, after that. Shiro tells Keith about home, about how every summer sucks because Keith’s not around. He tells him about Adam, how they’re friends but _don’t worry, you’re still my best friend_.

Keith tells him about how his dad’s dead. How he’d been shipped off to a foster home and wanted to get the hell away from there as soon as possible. He says, _I wanted an escape_.

Shiro wants to say something cliché, like, _I can be your escape_.

He doesn’t. He has more pride than that.

 

**xx.**

“I’m gonna go to space,” Keith murmurs. They’re eighteen now.

But suddenly, Shiro’s thirteen, flying paper airplanes with Keith, making pinky promises on his front porch. Suddenly he’s fourteen, falling in love with his best friend, too afraid to lose him that he doesn’t tell him, not until Keith really _is_ going to leave. Or hell, maybe he’s fifteen, pressing down the urge to kiss Keith, or sixteen, wondering why the hell Keith’s so far away.

Or…seventeen, seeing Keith for the first time in what feels like years, learning about him all over again. Seeing that this is the boy of his dreams, right there in front of his face.

But Shiro’s eighteen, really, and he knows what he wants.

So Shiro puts his hands on either side of Keith’s cheeks. Ignores his shocked gasp and whispers, _is this okay?_

And Keith nods.

So Shiro kisses him. Soft. Gentle. It doesn’t last long. He wishes it did, but they need to breathe. He pulls away, rests his forehead against Keith’s, and takes his scent in. His hands are trembling against Keith’s face.

Keith reaches up. Places a hand over Shiro’s. His skin is so, so _warm_.

“I love you,” Shiro says. It almost hurts to say the words. But he wants this. He wants Keith.

And Keith just squeezes his hand and says:

“ _We’re_ going to space.”


End file.
